There are three major forex trading sessions which comprise the 24-hour market: the London session, the US session and the Asian session. Each major geographic market center can exhibit vastly unique traits and tendencies that can allow traders to effectively execute strategies at any time.

Although the forex market is the most liquid of all asset classes, there are periods whereby volatility is constant, and others subdued. Understanding these different forex session times can improve the reliability of a forex trading strategy.

In this article, we will explore each of these forex market sessions including their key characteristics – forex time zones and how they affect trading.

When it comes to buying and selling forex, traders have unique styles and approaches. This is because the forex market is one of the most liquid and largest in the world and as a result there is no one single way to trade.

Knowing when to buy and sell forex depends on many factors, but there tends to be more volume when markets are volatile because of the associated higher risk. This article will explore the concept of buying and selling currencies using practical examples as well as additional resources to boost your forex trading experience.

Implementing a trading checklist is a vital part of the trading process because it helps traders to stay disciplined, stick to the trading plan, and builds confidence. Maintaining a trading checklist presents traders with a list of questions that traders need to answer before executing trades.

It is important not to confuse a trading plan with the trading checklist. The trading plan deals with the big picture, for example, the market you are trading and the analytical approach you choose to follow. The trading checklist focuses on each individual trade and the conditions that must be met before the trade can be made.

Nobody can foresee exactly how the markets are going to move – that would be far too simple. However, there are certain patterns you can look out for to improve your chances of success when trading. Learn about 12 common foreign exchange trading patterns and test your knowledge to see if you can accurately predict how each pattern plays out.

Floor-Trader Pivots assist traders in identifying areas in a chart where price is likely to approach and can be used to set appropriate targets, while effectively managing risk. It is one of many types of pivot points traders can use to determine key levels, but the concept of support and resistance is well entrenched in all of them.

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Stocks and commodities are two of the most widely-traded financial products today. These asset classes can serve as a powerful influence on the economy, business infrastructure and the trading behaviors of millions around the world. Read on to discover the nuances of commodities vs stocks, the trading styles that suit each, and why understanding their interplay is useful.

There are a number of differences between commodities and stocks, both as properties and in terms of how they are traded.

Market Health is a new tool for traders and analysts which gives a snapshot of global market performance, currency strength and real-time exchange opening and closing times.

Using data from Quandl, Market Health allows users to take a macro look at global markets and indices including the Dow Jones, S&P 500, FTSE 100 and DAX 30 to help formulate and deliver on trading strategies.

Split between 3 main viewpoints, users can easily switch between world overview, stock exchange open times and index performance.

The global view combines exchange opening times and currency performance, presented on a world map. The map, shown as a heatmap shows currency strength against a base currency of your choice.

Stock exchange opening times showcases 8 global stock exchange markets and details exactly when they’re open and closed, how long they’re open for and whether or not they’re currently closed for public holidays. All of this information is presented in an...

Lagging indicators use past price data to provide entry and exit signals, while leading indicators provide traders with an indication of future price movements, while also using past price data. When faced with the dilemma of leading vs lagging indicators, which should traders choose? The answer to this question ultimately comes down to individual preference after understanding the advantages and limitations of each.

Dealing with the fear of missing out – or FOMO – is a highly valuable skill for traders. Not only can FOMO have a negative emotional impact, it can cloud judgment and overshadow logic, which is problematic when making trading decisions.

So what is FOMO in trading? It’s the fear traders get when they think they might be missing out on big opportunities, or that other traders are more successful. Traders who understand FOMO, where it comes from and how they react to it are in a strong position to tackle it at its root cause: the innermost workings of their own mind.

This article will help you get to grips with your FOMO, offering solutions to stop it in its tracks – or even to prevent it from arising in the first place.

Risk management is at the core of any good trading plan, without having a sound set of principles to follow a trader is doomed to fail. We outline rules and factors to consider when customizing a risk management game-plan right for you.

We understand the difficulties of trading, which is why we’ve put together a variety of guides designed to help traders of all experience levels.

Risk management is one of the most important aspects to successful trading, but far too often it’s overlooked. Job #1 for a trader is to always keep yourself in the game. A sound strategy and the discipline to follow it will go long way towards ensuring you stick around.

If you are in the learning stage, your objective is to keep losses very small until you figure out what you are doing from an analytical and strategy standpoint. Adhering to sound risk parameters early-on will go a long way towards building a foundation for later on.

For the more...

The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) is a technical indicator which simply measures the relationship of exponential moving averages (EMA).The MACD displays a MACD line (blue), signal line (red) and a histogram (green) - showing the difference between the MACD line and the signal line.

The MACD line is the difference between two exponentially levelled moving averages – usually 12 and 26-periods, whilst the signal line is generally a 9-period exponentially smoothed average of the MACD line.

These MACD lines waver in and around the zero line. This gives the MACD the characteristics of an oscillator giving overbought and oversold signals above and below the zero-line respectively.

Natural gas prices are up over 4% this week, bolstered by strong demand prospects. A heatwave across Southern Europe is likely translating into elevated liquified natural gas exports (LNG). According to Greece’s weather service, the country saw its highest temperature on record Monday. Meanwhile, drought conditions across the Western United States are pressuring hydropower capacity. That bodes well for alternate energy sources like natural gas.

Prices remain elevated near multi-year peaks, despite being lower from last week’s swing high. August is on track to see a fifth monthly rise after a strong fundamental backdrop kept demand elevated through the summer months. A massive heatwave across the United States in June resulted in an over 20% monthly rally. Hot and arid conditions have moderated somewhat since then, but not enough to sap the rosy demand outlook that has kept bulls in firm control.

The National Weather Service’s 8-14 day temperature outlook sees...

According to IG Client Sentiment (IGCS), retail traders appear to be increasingly betting that the Japanese Yen could depreciate against currencies such as the US Dollar and Australian Dollar. IGCS can at times be a contrarian indicator. If this trend in positioning continues, the Yen could stand to benefit instead. To learn more, check out this week’s recording of my webinar above.

The IGCS gauge implies that roughly 57% of retail traders are net-long USD/JPY. Upside exposure has increased by 8.59% and 28.31% over a daily and weekly basis respectively. The fact that investors are net-long hints that prices may continue falling. This is further underscored by recent changes in sentiment, offering a stronger bearish contrarian trading bias.

The Singapore Dollar is facing its next test against the US Dollar after USD/SGD broke under rising support from June. The pair left behind a Hammer candlestick pattern as it retested the former 1.3495 – 1.3530 inflection zone. This is a sign of indecision which can at times precede a turn higher. While the near-term bias still holds slightly bearish, a ‘Golden Cross’ between the 50- and 200-day Simple Moving Averages underpins an upside bias in the medium-term. Keep a close eye on these SMAs which may act as key support.

Chart Created in TradingView

The US Dollar continues to make gains against the Thai Baht, as USD/THB retests highs from 2020. Clearing this range exposes peaks from 2018 which make for a key zone of resistance between 33.518 and 33.320. Negative RSI divergence does show that upside momentum is fading, which can at times precede a turn lower. In such a case, keep a close eye on the 20-day SMA. Breaking under could open the door to a material...

BoE Recap: The most noteworthy takeaway from the BoE meeting had been the update to its exit sequencing, where the BoE lowered the Bank Rate threshold to unwind its balance sheet to 0.5% from 1.5%. What’s more, with the BoE acknowledging that should the economy grow as expected, modest tightening is likely to be needed, market participants have brought forward expectations on the timing of rate hikes with short sterling futures signalling the Bank Rate at 0.5% by Dec 2022.

The view to normalising policy is in stark contrast to the ECB and thus, the Pound can retain upside against the Euro. In turn, with EUR/GBP breaking below the psychological 0.8500 handle, the cross is pressing on the YTD low at 0.8470, while any bounce will likely be sold into. Unlike the back end of Q1, EUR/GBP is not currently oversold on the break below 0.8500 as was the case previously. However, it will be important to assess the cross on a retest at 0.8500, failure to hold could see weak shorts...

It’s likely to be a quiet morning session ahead for currency markets as investors indulge in the common pre-NFP lull. There is a lot riding on the data out this afternoon as a lot of emphasis has been put on jobs data to determine the path of monetary policy in the next few months, with markets hoping to see a strong reading above 800k to start pointing the finger at the Fed, once again telling it to adapt to the times and do something to curve rising price pressures and a hot jobs market.

So we shift our attention to the equity space this morning in an attempt to capture some kind of move. The session started out pretty positive, with all European majors advancing nicely in the green, but momentum has changed and we’re now left at opening levels with a false sense of direction.

On Thursday evening around 21:00 local time, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced changes to numerous departments within his cabinet. While the reshuffle may have already been on the cards, the communication breakdown between the intelligence ministry and the SA Police during the recent civil unrest highlighted the need for more immediate changes.

Cabinet reshuffles are not unusual in the South African political landscape with former president Jacob Zuma having done so during his tenure, albeit, controversially.

Apart from the change in the ministry of finance the most surprising revelation from last night was to dissolve the ministry of intelligence and have the State Security Agency (SSA) report directly to the office of the president, instead.

Changes to Finance Ministry

Last night also saw the resignation of finance minister Tito Mboweni who was replaced by the chairperson of the ruling party’s economic committee, Enoch Godongwana.

During...

Are you looking for potential trading opportunities with short-term price action in the stock market? Then join us as we offer a free, all-day virtual education event to help you step into the world of day trading. We'll cover products and tools to access markets designed specifically for retail traders, interesting day trading strategies, as well as some current analysis of the equity index markets.

11-11:45am ET

Day trading equity indices with binary options - Todd Rich, Nadex

Looking for short-term price action in the stock markets? Nadex Binary Options may be the right opportunity for you. Todd Rich will start with a foundation in binary options and then dive into how they work. Todd will explain how you can position a trade based on whether you think the price of an equity index will rise or fall, all with predetermined risk and reward.

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The...

Employment data improved on estimates (see calendar below) with both NFP and unemployment rates marginally improved. While inflation concerns have been largely dismissed by market participants, recent disappointing employment data has been under the spotlight. Now that employment data is showing signs of recovery, pressure on the Federal Reserve will be more fierce than ever to bring forward QE tapering.

Source: DailyFX economic calendar

The U.S. dollar has responded positively to the news with DXY price action testing the 23.6% Fibonacci level at 92.63 (Fibonacci taken from March 2020 high – January 2021 low). Emphasis will now turn to the Jackson Hole meeting in late August for further guidance.

DOLLAR INDEX (DXY) DAILY CHART

Chart prepared by Warren Venketas, IG

This week the cryptocurrency fraternity has been promoting the most recent Ethereum fork which is basically an upgrade to the current blockchain system. This happens regularly...

The US Dollar is trading on its front foot this morning as traders digest the latest round of monthly nonfarm payrolls. Headline NFPs for July came in at 943K and topped the consensus forecast of 870K. The unemployment rate crossed the wires at 5.4%, which was also better than the 5.7% figure expected by markets. US Dollar strength following the NFP report likely corresponds with markets pricing in greater odds of an expedited Fed taper timeline and Treasury yields moving higher across the curve.

Chart by @RichDvorakFX created using TradingView

USD/JPY price action spiked 25-pips higher immediately after the NFP report release and is eyeing a topside breakout from its falling wedge pattern. Potential for USD/JPY strength was hinted at earlier this week with the bullish engulfing candlestick printed on Wednesday. A close above the upper descending trendline could provide confirmation of the recent reversal higher by USD/JPY and bring July highs back into focus...

The price of gold trades to a fresh weekly low ($1795) following the better-than-expected US Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) report, and the technical outlook casts a bearish forecast for bullion as a ‘death cross’ formation looks poised to take shape over the coming days.